2007/11/24

Band: The No WTO ComboAlbum: Live From The Battle In SeattleCountry: USARelease Date: 2000

The No W.T.O Combo celebrate and further the protests that took place against the World Trade Organization in Seattle during late November of 1999. Recorded live at a show amidst the protests' aftermath, he Combo brings elder punk statesman Jello Biafra together with Kim Thayil, Krist Novoselic, and Gina Mainwal. Two new Biafra-penned punk burners, the Dead Kennedys classic "Let's Lynch the Landlord," a Biafra spoken-word piece, and the DOA/Biafra jam "Full Metal Jackoff" comprise the set's material. The recording is musically noteworthy due to the musicians' obvious passion, not to mention that Thayil sounds like an unholy cross between Greg Ginn and East Bay Ray. Most interesting, though, is Biafra's subject matter -- worker rights, NAFTA, downsizing, and the WTO -- and excellent liner notes from Biafra and Novoselic summing up the demonstrations and issues at hand. At the least, Live From the Battle in Seattle is an important historical document; leave it to Biafra to show that rock and social protest don't have to be mutually exclusive, even in the year 2000.

2007/11/23

Band: The CrampsAlbum: How To Make A MonsterCountry: USARelease Date: 2004

Part of the beauty of the Cramps is the consistency of their vision -- since 1976, their body of work has been one long fever dream of kinky sex, bug-eyed monsters, and switchblade-wielding juvies, married to the primal twang of an electric guitar and the malevolent thud of a drum kit. While the quality of their work has run through some peaks and valleys over the years (they've made plenty of good records, but just a few great ones), they seem to have known what they were shooting for from the very beginning. How to Make a Monster, a two-disc collection of demos, rehearsal tapes, and live recordings, documents the band's formative years (for the most part), and while a few of these takes push the boundaries of the word "primitive," this is the Cramps, alive and oozing, from the very first lo-fi run-though of "Quick Joey Small." The first two sets of recordings, from 1976, are plenty crude (in terms of both performance and audio quality), but the band's energy and abandon are already in place, and while later tapes (from 1981 through 1988) are cleaner, the band ultimately doesn't sound that much different, just tighter and better at what it's doing. While Lux Interior sounds a bit subdued in some of the earlier studio stuff, he's a live wire all through disc two, which preserves two early live shows, one at Max's Kansas City in 1977 and the other from CBGB's in 1978. The band has to put up with a too-cool-for-school audience for the Max's show, which periodically heckles the band (gotta wonder what those "hipsters" are up to today), but Poison Ivy Rorschach's deadly guitar is already on the case, and by the time the CBGB's gig rolls up, the Cramps sound loud and proud, and the crowd is with 'em all the way. How to Make a Monster is hardly the definitive Cramps anthology (this is one band that has earned a box set by now), but it's a fun and fascinating look at their early days, and if you subscribe to the notion that the older the Cramps record is, the better, then this little item's a must. Great notes from Lux and Ivy, too, along with some classic flyer art and provocative photos.

2007/11/21

These are five songs from the third rehearsal of Wire's recent, stunning comeback, recorded at the Ritz in London, November 29, 1999. And regrettably, The Third Day is only a limited edition, 1000-copies EP the group peddled at its 2000 tour gigs, because frankly, it's jaw dropping. As those who attended the tour could attest, the four original members declined to replicate their 23-year-old versions. Instead, as seen here on a mind-blowing "Pink Flag" (two ashen versions for good measure) and an equally wicked "Mercy," the group hurls a viscous cacophony the old recordings always hinted at -- like on 154's later "A Touching Display." In place of the underground-touchstone scratchy guitars on the Pink Flag and Chairs Missing classics that launched a thousand bands, Bruce Gilbert and Colin Newman are all roaring thrust, all dense wall of sound eruption. Recall, Wire-heads, My Bloody Valentine doing "Only Shallow" on the Loveless tour in 1992, and you're in the fuming, exploding, deafening, needles-screaming-in-the-red ballpark. Right in step, bassist Graham Lewis doubles the solidity into a distorted, crunching slam of a sound. Yikes. Even tap-tap-tap master Robert Gotobed sounds as if his kick drum's a howitzer and his snare's a tommy gun. 154's more gaseous "Blessed State" is similarly reinvigorated (though it had less far to go; sadly, this wasn't subsequently performed live), and "Art of Persistence" is a great find. Speaking of "find," how does one find this surprisingly must-have document? Alas, Wire probably sold all copies by tour's end, but try at www.pinkflag.com.

2007/11/20

Polysics aren't cute, and they don't have their own cartoon show. (Although it might be interesting -- I'm thinking Ren & Stimpy, but weirder.) What they do have is a thoroughly original, bizzarely entertaining sound.What do they sound like? A friend of mine suggested techno punk, but that description is too glib. Imagine the bastard child of Devo and a hardcore punk group, fronted by a guy who, umm, hasn't been keeping up with his meds, and you start to get the idea.The music is braindead fun, spastic, and thoroughly addictive. Chief Polysic Hiroyuki Hayashi (once known only as Poly-1) mugs and wails off key over a bed of thrashing guitars, bleeping synthesizers, and the sugary sweet harmonies of keyboardist Kayo and bassist Fumi. The few non-Japanese songs are more Engrish than English, but it all fits somehow. This isn't brain surgery music.Sure, Hayashi's over-the-top style can wear on you, and they do love their vocoders. Some songs don't work -- a "live in the studio" re-recording of the single "Black Out Fall Out" (found on Japan For Sale Vol 3, for the curious) introduces unnecessary elements and loosens the songs tight charm. But the sped up, vocoded cover of "My Sharona" deserves to be on everyone's list of alltime bizzare songs, and numbers like "Kaja Kaja Goo", "Lookin' Looin' Gaa" (with its childlike verse chants), "Peach Pie On The Beach" (just TRY not singing along -- pippikippippippi!) and "Code4" really do show off the band at its hyperactive, geeky finest.

2007/11/19

With the 1990 departure of Robert Gotobed (now Robert Grey), Wire ceased to exist, becoming the trio WIR. A decade later, however, the unpredictable foursome reunited for a series of concerts. Playing together again, the bandmembers realized Wire still had something to say. Tracks from 1999 rehearsals appeared on The Third Day, but the band began recording completely new material in late 2001. That first studio collaboration since Manscape resulted in Read & Burn 01. It's appropriate that this release from British punk's most innovative band should coincide with punk's Silver Jubilee. But although Read & Burn 01 evokes the taut and abrasive, pared-down rush of Pink Flag -- before the more experimental departures of Chairs Missing and 154 -- this isn't empty nostalgia. On the vintage foundation of simple, minimal patterns repeated to often-hypnotic effect, Wire builds a beefed-up, contemporary wall of sound. In keeping with the title, this material is urgent and intense, feelings conveyed by the music's sheer pace. The three-chord wonder "In the Art of Stopping" kicks things off frantically and the band goes into overdrive on the deconstructed speed metal/hardcore onslaught of "Comet," with Grey's characteristically relentless, rigid beat at the center of the sonic maelstrom; aside from Colin Newman's trademark sneer, this could be an outtake from Motörhead's Overkill. Although there's a respite on the shouty "I Don't Understand," with its ominous, lumbering groove recalling "Lowdown," elsewhere Wire sustains the amphetamine pace. They end with a bang on "The Agfers of Kodack," an assaultive number enveloped in Bruce Gilbert's swarm-of-bees guitar. During a 1977 Wire gig at London's Roxy, a heckler shouted at the band after every number, "That's better, now louder and faster." Read & Burn 01 suggests that 25 years later, Wire might still be hearing that voice egging them on.

On their post-millennial return to the studio, Wire rediscovered no-nonsense noisemaking, trashing the art component of their pioneering art punk identity and throwing themselves headlong into a fast, loud, and bilious new philistinism. The band's first salvo, Read & Burn 01, was a stomping, short, sharp shocker, the aural equivalent of getting jumped in a dark alley by a bunch of irate, amphetamine-addled pensioners (well, Bruce Gilbert was nearing 60 when the CD appeared). A few months later, with listeners still cowering in the corner groping about for their glasses and checking for broken bones, the thuggish quartet came back to put the boot in again. Grounded in the three Rs (repetition, repetition, and repetition), Read & Burn 02 shares its predecessor's hit-and-run aesthetic: it's a post-industrial punk rock barrage of buzzing, stinging guitars; chunky basslines; and clockwork beats littered with terse, strangled vocals that fall somewhere between bolshy, pre-brawl aggression and football-terrace chants. The sound of Wire 2002 rarely lets you catch your breath. From the title track's deconstructed glam rock rhythms to the metallic rush of "Nice Streets Above" to the hectoring speedcore of "Raft Ants," these numbers seem fueled by a "last-one-to-the-end-of-the-song's-a-sissy" competition among the bandmembers. But while the overriding feel is one of menace and urgency, there are some less-fraught moments. It's a good cop/bad cop routine: Amid the general sonic onslaught, part of "Trash/Treasure" sees Colin Newman trading his heckling delivery for almost soothing vocals and Wire playing pop in a way that recalls their better '80s material. Still, Gilbert, Grey, Graham Lewis, and Newman have never had much time for nostalgia, and the new level of assaultive energy here emphasizes that the band is still reinventing itself. Read & Burn 02 is the sound of Wire not so much looking back as looking forward in anger.

Having spent the four-and-a-half years since the May 2003 release of Send, their last full length studio album, consolidating and reappraising their back catalogue (by means of CD and DVD releases and re-releases of their '70s material) and for the most part remaining out of the public eye, Wire have nonetheless not been creatively idle. Although drawing on a resource pool of material developed over the entire post-Send period, Read & Burn 03 benefits substantially from a concentrated creative effort and newly defined aesthetic sense developed since mid-2006. Wire, ever multi-layered, ever redefined, is evolving yet again. No greater indication of the seismic shift in Wire's intentions can be given than the very fact that the first track on the band's first utterance for almost five years is nearly 10 minutes long!

The fertile creative seam hit over the latter part of 2006 continues to be mined, and although Read & Burn 03 stands as a body of work in its own right, it is but the finished part of the larger set of material from which Wire will draw the next album. Note, however, that no material from Read & Burn 03 will be included on the next Wire album. Read & Burn 03 is NOT a part installment: it stands in its own right.

2007/11/18

A strange object surprised music fans in Brazil in 1982. An independent 7“ single, with an obscure cover in black and white where the band name could be read: Agentss. Here were 2 tracks impressively synchronised with the electronic music that was happening at that time in Europe and the USA, from Gary Numan and Fad Gadget to Gang Of Four, ESG, New Order and Liquid Liquid.

It was the first manifestation of a phenomenon that developed during the whole of the 1980's: Brazilian bands working from the same post-punk references as scenes occurring in London, New York and Berlin. In the following years dozens of releases revealed an invigorating and vigorous generation of bands. From 1982 to the end of the 80s bands like Ira!, Smack, Mercenárias, Muzak, Voluntários da Pátria, Chance, Vzyadoq Moe, Akira S & as Garotas Que Erraram were some of these names - all of these coming from the city of São Paulo.

With today´s groups like Bloc Party, LCD Sound System, The Rapture, Whomadewho, Radio 4 and other contemporary punk/dance bands taking their influences from the early eigthies, the music of the groups included on Não Wave (all of whom have remained unknown outside of Brazil until now) will be a surprising revelation. The tracks that Andy Cumming, Alex Antunes and Miguel Barella compiled in this collection give an idea of what was the Brazilian "Não Wave". An idea that is perhaps incomplete, because what was documented in the studios was often less explosive than the live experience - but still intriguing none-theless to see how current some of these tracks sound.

Não Wave track details, by Alex Antunes

01 Agentss "Agentes" Technopop band that were the predecessors of the Brazilian new wave. Formed in 1980, they released an independent single ("Agentes" / "Angra") in 1982, and another for a major label ("Professor Digital" / "Cidade Industrial") in 1983, splitting up in the same year. The few live shows they did always had a huge impact. The leader, vocalist and keyboard player Kodiak Bachine continued with an obscure solo work, while the guitarists Orion Mike (Miguel Barella) and Duo (Eduardo Amarante) went on to work in important bands in the following years such as Voluntários da Patria and Azul 29.

02 Black Future "Eu Sou O Rio" The darkest ("dark" being the name given to Brazilian pre-goths) and most experimental band from Rio de Janeiro, where the radical musical scene was based round the club "Crepúsculo de Cubatão" owned by the exiled English bank robber, Ronnie Biggs. Black Future were led by vocalist Márcio Satanésio and keyboard player, violinist and artist Tantão, two eccentric composers from the bohemian neighbourhood of Lapa, influenced by pop culture in general and comics in particular. The group appeared in 1983 and the album was released in 1988, promptly disappearing. One of the most well-known tracks is "Eu Sou O Rio" (I am Rio), which ironically celebrates the city, mixing punk funk and samba.

03+04 Akira S & As Garotas Que Erraram "O Futebol" + "Sobre As Pernas" Anarchic punk funk band formed by bassist Akira S and vocalist Pedreira Antunes in 1984. Akira S & As Garotas Que Erraram (Akira S and The Girls That Fucked Up) were the highlight on the seminal compilation Não São Paulo. Can member, Holger Czukay participated in the hit "Sobre As Pernas". In 1986, the year of the recording of their only album, they also performed with American no wave guitarist Arto Lindsay in a show that ended up in confusion and rioting with the vocalist Antunes inciting the audience to destroy the club Zoster. Pioneers in the use of computers on stage.

05 Azul 29 "Ciências Sensuais" The principle Brazilian technopop group, carrying on the heritage of Agentss, from whom they inherited guitarist Eduardo Amarante. Between 1983 and 1984 they released two singles ("Metrópole" / "Olhar") and ("Video Game" / "O Teu Nome Em Neon") for a major label before disappearing.The bizarre performance of vocalist and composer Thomas Bielefeld on this exclusive unreleased track ("Sensual Sciences") with his falsettos recalls the German operatic pop singer Klaus Nomi.

06 Chance "Samba Do Morro" One of the most experimental bands in São Paulo, formed by composers Nena and Scot and by singer Marcinha. Combining low tech a la early Cabaret Voltaire with the Brazilian rhythm of samba (the title is a word play with "morro" where the favelas are based in the mountainsides in Rio and the first person form of the verb "morrer" - to die). Highly conceptual, they performed rarely, and when they did it was with video equipment, a revelation at that time. They left just two recorded tracks on the Não São Paulo compilation with Akira S and Muzak.

07+08 Fellini "Teu Inglês", "Funziona Senza Vapore" One of the most unusual bands of the time, Fellini formed in 1984, as a (more or less) conventional new wave group, scoring the hit "Rock Europeu". The band was used as a medium to convey the obsessions of composer / multi-instrumentalist Thomas Pappon (founder of Voluntários de Pátria and Smack) and vocalist Carlos "Cadão" Volpato, combining low-fi samba and sung poetry.

09 Ira! "La Fora Pode Até Morrer" Still an important band in Brazilian rock, Ira! appeared in 1981 directly influenced by punk and post punk groups like The Clash and Gang of Four. The angular ska-like song "La Fora Pode Até Morrer" was recorded for their first demo tape and has never appeared on any album. The bassist and drummer would change soon after this recording. Later the group would clearly show the more seventies and mod influences of the composer, guitarist Edgard Scandurra, considered one of the best in the country on the instrument. Today Ira! have 12 albums and various collections released, and have never lost their credibility along with their audience, even when guitarist Edgard experiments with techno in his solo career.

10 AKT "Prince No Deserto Vermelho" Underground feminine supergroup formed by bassist and vocalist Sandra Coutinho (Mercenárias), Guitarist Karla (R. Mutt), Keyboard player and vocalist Dequinha (Bruhahá Babélico) and drummer Biba Meira (DeFalla). The quartet recorded some tracks in 1990, of which two were released on the indie compilation "Enquanto Isso...?!". They had a short existence with very few live performances before two of the members moved to Germany.

11 Vzyadoq Moe "Redenção" From the city of Sorocaba, in the interior of the state of São Paulo, the young band Vzyadoq Moe came together - the name, which has no meaning, appeared in a dream of one of the members. With sombre vocals in the style of Bauhaus and percussion from junk metal inspired by Einstuerzende Neubauten their debut album was released in 1988 by the independent label Wop Bop. Members of the band are still active today working with electronic music as VZY.

12 Mercenárias "Polícia" Aggressive feminine band formed in 1984 released their first album, the indie "Cadê As Armas?" (Where are the Weapons?), with the production skills of Edgard Scandurra of Ira! and the Englishman Peter Price, collaborator with members of Wire. The first LP directly attacked institutions such as the police and the church while the second LP, recorded for a major label, was much more sophisticated, adapting, for example, the "Proverbs of Hell" by William Blake. The incomprehension of the public and the label bringing on the end of the group.

13 Muzak "Ilha Urbana" One of the more vigorous bands of the Paulista scene, thanks to the furious beat of the now deceased drummer Victor Leite and the heavy and tense playing of guitarist Nivaldo. Appearing in 1984 they were a revelation on the important independent collection Não São Paulo (on the label Baratos Afins). Later they recorded an EP for a major label, however, it had a weak production and a more acoustic sound which didn't match their reputation as the "Killing Joke of Brazil", soon after they disappeared.

14 Voluntários Da Patria "Iô Iô" Formed at the end of 1982 by drummer Thomas Pappon and the guitarists Miguel Barella (former Agentss) and Minho K, the Voluntários witnessed a long line of ever changing vocalists. The album recorded in 1984 borrowed the singer from Ira!, Nazi, at the same time the guitarist Giusseppe Lenti replaced K. Barella and Lenti, both alumni of Robert Fripp, invested in the interaction of the guitars, in the style of Television and Talking Heads. Produced by the group, the album launched the new wave phase of the independent label Baratos Afins, which became the main focus of the local scene.

Band: Various ArtistsAlbum: 1382 The Persian New Waves Underground out of the Islamic Republic of IranCountry: IranRelease Date: 2004

This vinyl only album from exotic punk specialists, Tiananmen 89, is easily one of the most significant releases of 2004. How so? Because, it is the first underground rock compilation to come out of the Islamic Republic of Iran.As you might be able to guess, genres as musically aggressive and obviously Western influenced as hard rock and punk don’t have a terribly long history in Iran. Punks have been around since at least the early 1990’s but, back then, the scene amounted to little more than clandestine tape-swapping. (Apparently, you couldn’t even buy an electric guitar.) With the election of Mohammad Khatami as president in 1997 and the subsequent liberalisation of Iranian society, the rock scene has blossomed and a diverse range of styles are now being embraced by young Iranian rockers. On 1382, you can find snotty English-lyric-barking punks Fat Rats, electro with death metal vocals from Dark Earth, the rousing pop metal of Alookal, and this strange piece of prog rock by Oolanbator entitled “Fire in The Dead of Night”. It starts out conventionally enough with a halting piano and blues guitar jam followed by a propulsive organ workout, but then the wailing banshees start to take over…The album can be purchased through Darbouka Records, along with the rest of the Tiananmen 89 catalogue which includes punk/rock releases from Madagascar, Kyrgystan, Myanmar, Nepal, Paraguay, Malta, Moldova, Kosovo, Indonesia, Albania, Cuba and Romania... just to name a few.

2007/11/13

If you like punk rock at all, you pretty much have to have a soft spot for the Damned's epochal 1976 debut album Damned Damned Damned, one of the masterstroke releases of the first wave of British punk which still sounds fresh, exciting and brilliantly snotty three decades after it was released. But if you love Damned Damned Damned, well, this remastered and lavishly expanded edition will bring a broken-toothed grin to your face in no time flat. This three-disc set (yes, three discs!) opens with the original album, which seems to have hardly dated a bit. For all the group's manic energy, the playing is sharp and muscular, Dave Vanian's vocals are powerful enough to make his histrionics work, Rat Scabies' drumming holds the band tight, Captain Sensible's bass provides a solid foundation for the melodies and Brian James' guitar wails with primitive force. The songs still communicate, and the band's lack of an upfront political or social agenda means these songs aren't chained to their era the way the early Clash, Sex Pistols or Stiff Little Fingers discs are, great as they may be. Disc two serves up 26 demos, B-sides, non-LP single tracks and radio recordings, which equals nearly everything the band recorded during their first year of operations. The two John Peel sessions and a ten-song BBC live concert will delight anyone with a fondness for the band's first era, and you may want to give "Singalong Scabies" ("Stab Yor Back" minus its vocal track) a spin at your next karaoke party. And Disc three features a lo-fi recording of one of the Damned's first public gigs, a set recorded in London during the 100 Club's first Punk Rock Festival in the summer of 1977. The recording quality is only fair, and the audience doesn't seem to be too enthusiastic, but the Damned give their all, and the show is both exciting and historically priceless. The set comes with a 16-page booklet packed with photos and featuring an excellent historical essay from Kieron Tyler. [The 30th Anniversary Expanded Edition of Damned Damned Damned not only adds plenty of fine music and historical perspective to one of the great album of the British punk scene, it actually improves on the fine box set Play It at Your Sister, which covers most of the same territory before sinking into the disappointment of the group's misbegotten second album, Music for Pleasure; this is simply essential stuff, and rock & roll fun at its most dangerous.]

Mick Jones has made a career out of being there first. As guitarist for The Clash, he was as responsible as anyone was for developing the three-chord sound; along the way, he helped expose punks to world-beat sounds, reggae and funk. He also managed to be one of the first to record a rap song ("The Magnificent Seven") before splitting with The Clash in 1984. From there, he dove headlong into Big Audio Dynamite, which, after spawning the first single to heavily feature samples to land in the British pop charts ("E=MC2"), embraced the embryonic rave scene.

With Carbon/Silicon (in which Tony James, of Generation X and Sigue Sigue Sputnik fame joins him), Jones is once again a few steps ahead of the game: Since forming in 2002, the act championed online music distribution, spewing demos and three full-length albums onto its website for fans to grab virtually free, making it the first act of any reputation to go the free-online-distro route. Thom Yorke can thank them later.

Maybe there are only so many fresh ideas in Jones' head -- heck, he's already turned himself into the Thomas Edison of rock'n'roll -- but, for all the amazing back story and powerful lineup behind Carbon/Silicon, The Last Post doesn't sound nearly as cutting-edge as it should. Dropping the dance/funk/hip-hop/punk hybrid of his BAD days, Jones reverts back to traditional rock'n'roll riffs, peppering everything with liberal doses of digital sampling. It is, for all intents and purposes, a refinement of the back-to-basics rock on BAD's final effort, 1995's F-Punk (Radioactive).

But what a refinement. Where Jones' talent seemed to be receding faster than his hairline on the past couple BAD records, The Last Post -- the first Carbon/Silicon full-length to wind up with a hardcopy release -- starts bringing him and James back up to speed. And if it isn't as essential as anything in either guitarist's combined resume, it's at least a dose of pop-rock positivism to prove Jones has some vitality left in him, even if his music's retired from the cutting edge. "The News" opens the album with a walloping kick-beat bounce and a one-track garage-rock groove as Jones brims to overflowing with optimism that the world will, one day, be a pretty great place. "War on Culture" attaches wiry guitars to Jones' less-than-oblique criticism of stuffy conservatives' take on modern art, "The Whole Truth" throbs as bass, guitar and kick drums lock into a thumping start-stop riff that's descended in a right-hand line from The Kinks and The Clash most basic riffs. "Why Do Men Fight" is snappy dose of guitar pop that shows Jones and James haven't lost their knack for crafting a killer hook.

Jones worked out the difficulties that plagued the last couple Big Audio Dynamite albums without completely dismissing the pop-rock energy from his agenda. If it's not up to the cutting-edge standards Jones set in his past, it's at least a fun listen.

2007/11/12

The sound of New York’s Gogol Bordello is a combination of reckless fervor, foot-stomping rhythms, outlandish lyrics and a circus of surreal stimuli that leaves progressive minded music fans spinning in the their wake. Drawing upon Gypsy, Slavic and punk-rock traditions, Gogol Bordello is the genesis of a new aesthetic that bridges the gap between Eastern European and Gypsy influence with Western culture. This new direction in music is singer/lyricist/visionary Eugene Hutz’s passion, who uses the term "Ukrainian Gypsy Punk Cabaret" to describe their singular sound. "The title of the new album sums of the spirit of the band and the people around it. Gogol Bordello is about creating new musical possibilities. We all come from a very distinct tradition of music that is largely driven by Eastern European sounds, visions and colors as well as punk rock and street culture. We’re a multicultural unit with an underdog energy and a sense of humor, although a pretty twisted one," says Hutz.

Allmusic Guide review:The idea of colliding Romany music with punk may at first seem bizarre, but there's more common ground to be found than one might first suspect, not the least of which involves the rejection of authority and dominant cultural norms. Musically, the Romanies' exuberant celebration of life may appear the antithesis of punk's original nihilism, but both are kindled by a sense of immediacy, a "no future, let's play for today" atmosphere that fires every song. And so Gogol Bordello, while certainly unique, is not as odd as it may seem. The group long ago left the concept of borders, musical or otherwise, behind. The members may have met in New York City, but bar one, all traveled far to get there, arriving from Israel and a variety of Eastern European nations. Singer/lyricist Eugene Hutz brought with him his rich Ukrainian heritage, a gift for storytelling, a twisted sense of humor, and a sharp sense of irony. The bandmembers brought their excellent musicianship, a love of their own cultural sounds, and a magpie's delight in plundering from others. The group's name pays tribute to Ukraine's most feted author, Nikolai Gogol, whose distinctive style and leitmotif provide inspiration for Hutz's lyrics. Skipping stealthily from the real world to the surreal, the pugnacious to the paranoid, the singer spins out his tales of wonder and woe, commonplace occurrences and counterintuitive events. Behind him, the band lets loose with an accompaniment that makes a nonsense of genres, a storming backing awash in melody that pushes toward pop, but cries out to the vast Eurasian steppes. Incredibly anthemic, Multi Kontra Culti will set your head spinning and your body with it, your blood racing to the rhythms, and your spirit soaring with the wildness of the untamed sounds within.

Gogol Bordello are a completely original New York entitity. Rubric is reissuing their debut release, Voi-La Intruder, with the track order revised and an additional 5 tracks. This is Ukranian party music. Leader Eugene Hutz is a major NYC DJ at the Bulgarian Bar on Saturday nights. The place is packed weekly with Eastern European immigrants and the hipsters who love them. The music is best described as a sort of Pogues meets traditional Ukranian folk music in a sweaty dance bar. One foot in punk rock and one foot in traditionalism, Gogol Bordello have been packing clubs in NYC and have recently toured the Czech Republic and Switzerland. They’ve also shared the Central Park stage last summer with international sensations Manu Chao. This is sexy, uplifting party music that gives one hope for the future.

Band: Varous ArtistsAlbum: American Hardcore: The History of American Punk RockCountry: USARelease Date: 2006

There'd be no Nirvana, Beastie Boys, or Red Hot Chili Peppers were it not for hardcore pioneers such as Black Flag, Bad Brains, and Minor Threat. Hardcore was more than music; it was a social movement created by Reagan-era misfit kids. Featuring twenty-six definitive tracks, this is the audio companion to the feature-length documentary, released by Sony Pictures Classics in September 2006. Artists include Black Flag, Bad Brains, Minor Threat, Circle Jerks, Cro-Mags, Adolescents, Die Kreuzen, Flipper, Gang Green, Negative Approach, DOA, MDC, DRI, and more.